Posted on 07/22/2004 6:02:06 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
By Camille Wheeler
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, July 22, 2004
GEORGETOWN -- Eighty-three-year-old Alice Ainsworth keeps supporting her political party, even though Democratic names have almost disappeared from Williamson County ballots.
"I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Yellow Dog Democrat from way back," the Georgetown resident said. "I just always vote for any Democrats on the ticket.
"The last time, it seems it was hard to find any."
With the Democratic National Convention set to unfold next week in Boston, the county's Democratic candidates aren't giving voters much to cheer about. Unlike decades past, when they dominated Williamson County's political stage, only four Democrats who live here appeared on the March primary ballot and will be on the November general ballot.
And in a county with an estimated 300,000 people, the presidential primary in March -- by which time Sen. John Kerry had all but sewn up the party's nomination -- drew a mere 8,152 Democrats to the polls, compared to three times as many Republicans.
Currently, Democrats don't hold a single public office in this staunchly conservative county.
"This year, there are four of us either brave enough or stupid enough to stand up and say, 'Let's take on the monster and see what happens,' " said Jon Porter, a Cedar Park attorney and political newcomer trying to reach Congress.
To get there, he must defeat U.S. Rep. John Carter, a Central Texas Republican heavyweight who holds the District 31 congressional seat.
Porter, who calls the 62-year-old Carter the "grandfather" of the Williamson County Republican Party, said he ran because nobody else would.
"The myth that Williamson County is a Republican county has become a self-fulfilling prophecy because no Democrat candidates have stood up and run," said Porter, 33. "So Williamson County is now a Communist county because we only have one party to choose from." Melissa Irion, a Williamson County delegate to the national convention said she expects the John Kerry-John Edwards presidential ticket to attract Democratic voters at all levels.
"People want to have a say about the war in Iraq and about George Bush's record," she said. "People aren't necessarily going to go to the polls for county commissioners, but once they're there voting for John Kerry they're going to say, 'I want to make a change.' "
Williamson County Republican Party chairman Bill Fairbrother, though, said voters are not willing to support Democrats. "The proof is in the pudding," he said. "Williamson County Republicans hold every spot in the county, and they win by large margins."
Resurrecting the county's Democratic Party is simply a matter of persuading candidates to run, said Williamson County Democratic Party chairman Jimmy Rocha.
"We have to start somewhere," Rocha said, explaining that he thinks candidates and voters are starting to connect. "We always heard, 'There's no one out there, there's no one out here,' and now they're finding each other right and left."
Not so long ago, Republican candidates and voters were the minority in Williamson County, as they were across Texas.
That changed with the county's March 1994 primary, when Republicans, for the first time, cast more votes than Democrats. Eight months later, in a gubernatorial election that shaped the future of politics in Texas, George W. Bush capitalized on his powerful name and a new conservative following and booted Democratic incumbent Ann Richards from office.
In Williamson County, Bush beat Richards 58 to 42 percent.
In some ways, the change wasn't all that sudden, said 26th District Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield, a former Williamson County Democrat who switched to the Republican Party in 1994.
He pointed to the "Reagan Democrats" of the 1980s, middle-of-the-road voters who embraced President Ronald Reagan's optimism and conservative values. The 1994 governor's race officially pulled conservative voters into the Republican fold, Stubblefield said.
"George Bush made it respectable to be a Republican."
Porter is trying to make it respectable again to be a Democrat.
"I don't label myself as a liberal or conservative," he said. "I label myself as someone with common sense."
"I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Yellow Dog Democrat from way back," the Georgetown resident said. "I just always vote for any Democrats on the ticket
Just like my 85yr old grandma. She doesn't know any better. She has no clue that the liberal, pinko, homo, racist, balkanizers have taken over her party. She only watches Dan Rather for her news also. I tried to tell her the party is not the party of FDR or JFK etc., but she'll have none of it.
Good news!
My county, and proud of it!!! If the Dems think they will make any headway, they better think again. This is "BUSH COUNTRY" plain and simple.
And some of the most beautiful country in the world. Gorgeous women too.
Sounds like Denton County; the Dims around here can't even buy a candidate - nobody needs the laughter!
On the other hand, we must remain vigilant for the closet Dimocrats who wish to run as Republicans simply because that's the only way to get elected.
There are plenty such out there.
They show up at our county convention, favoring gun control, abortion, higher taxes, and more government.
I'm moving from Williamson to Travis next Friday. I'll spread the cure down there.
Sooo right! A Williamson Co. native, born and raised.
Lots of luck. Travis has become the hotbed of liberals in Texas. There's not one Dem in Travis with any common sense.
This is happening all too often.
Probably moved to Travis County.
I have been thinking of retiring back home to Texas in a few more years. I think it might just be that Williamson county just might be the right spot!!! (Right now now I live and work in an ocean of liberals in Maryland)
We lived in one NW Austin neighborhood which was actually in Williamson County. I actually liked that area, but Austin was close to annexing us. We moved back into Travis county, but into an area that is 80% or better Conservative.
I am thinking of buying some land in Williamson again to build a home to retire in a few more years. That county has exploded in population, as have most of the rest of the Austin metro.
BUSH COUNTRY ping!!!
My Grandma was the same way until Slick, she voted rat because FDR was one. After Slick she would not vote. Shed could not bring herself to vote republican.
Hear the Donkey Bray
(RealPlayer)
[Expletive deleted] !!!
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